Cold Little Heart
by Aria34
Summary: Sirius Black didn't need his parents, didn't need his brother, but he needed his friends. And he would learn to need her too. Katherine Graves, his professor; the person he wanted to hate more than anything, the person he couldn't hate despite everything. (Taking a break on this for now)
1. Chapter 1

**I don't own Harry Potter!**

* * *

"Have you heard about the new professor?" A pretty, young brunette tossed her hair over her shoulder and looked at the blonde walking beside her. The blonde, Vivian, shot the other girl a wry look.

"Elle, I sat next to you at the feast last night." Vivian sat down and dropped her heavy bag by her feet. "I heard the same things you did."

"Apparently she's quite young," The brunette, Giselle, sat across from Vivian primly, smoothing her skirt down her thighs. "And an American." Her voice took on a haughty tone.

"Oh come off it, Giselle, she's about as American as you are."

"I beg your pardon!" Giselle tossed a piece of toast across the table at the other girl.

"She seems more French than anything," Vivian caught the toast and ripped a chunk out of it. "I heard she went to Beauxbatons."

"Oh, did you?" Giselle raised an eyebrow, surprised that Vivian had paid any attention to gossip. "What else did you hear?"

"Not much, really," Vivian occupied herself with a cup of tea. "One of the Hufflepuff prefects has an uncle on the school board who apparently mentioned it over the summer."

"You know, I really think I would have liked Beauxbatons. I'd take powder blue skirt-suits over these awful plaid skirts any day." Giselle glared at her skirt as she unrolled the Daily Prophet.

James, sitting several feet away at the Gryffindor table tilted his head toward the two Ravenclaws who began discussing the merits of Beauxbatons Academy.

"Moony," he nudged the sandy haired boy next to him, "What have you heard about this new Professor?"

"Not much," Remus, sitting next to him, shrugged. "She's young, went to Beauxbatons, and supposedly she's here on Dumbledore's request."

James raised his eyebrows with a low whistle, "Dumbledore's request? If that's true, that's impressive."

"Well, I suppose we'll see after lunch," Remus tapped their schedules, laying on the table in front of them. There was a large block after lunch indicating their **N.E.W.T. Level- Defense Against the Dark Arts** class.

* * *

Conversations darted around the classroom, some about summer holidays, others about various class schedules and plans for the evening. The dark haired women leaning against the desk, flipping through a rather large book, didn't look up a single time. The voices echoed off the high ceilings; what had begun as a dull roar eventually tapered off into quiet whispers. Some of the students shot each other puzzled glances; the more responsible ones turned to shush the few who were still whispering to their friends. Every head turned to the front in confusion at the dark haired woman's lack of response, and apparent lack of interest at the 23 students sitting in front of her. As the silence became deafening she finally spoke.

"N.E.W.T. level Defense against the Dark Arts," her voice had a distinctly American accent. She continued flipping through the book, lips moving as she silently read the chapter headings and occasionally pausing to consider the various images and diagrams.

Twenty three pairs of eyes watched in baffled interest as she continued ignoring them to peruse the book.

Just as they became acclimated to the awkward silence permeating the classroom, she snapped the book shut, making everyone sit up straighter, and dropped it on the desk behind her. She looked up with bright, intelligent eyes.

"Well, I'm impressed." She remarked casually as she surveyed each of the students carefully. Her eyes seemed to dig into each student for a few moments, rendering them quite uncomfortable, before she moved on to the person sitting next to them. "I didn't expect to have twenty three students in such a high level class."

She looked completely at ease leaning against the heavy wooden desk, palms braced against it with her fingers curling over the edge.

"My name is Katherine Graves." She tossed her head to flip her hair over her shoulder. "I'm your new professor."

"I was just taking a quick look at your required reading. This book is… fine," she tapped on the cover of the book with one fingernail and commented unenthusiastically. "There's nothing particularly memorable about it. I can't imagine how you're expected to enjoy the subject if you learn it in such clinical terms. I expect you all are in this class because you are actually interested in the subject, correct?"

She looked at them with raised eyebrows, prompting nods and quiet agreements from some of the students.

"Excellent!" She pushed off the desk and walked around it, dragging her fingertips across the wood. "Then I'm sure you won't mind if I tell you to forget the book." She slid the offensive book off the desktop and into a drawer, where it landed with a thud.

"Forget the book, Professor?" A puzzled voice came from a pretty red-head sitting in the first row.

"Yes, Miss…" Katherine craned her neck to look at an enchanted seating chart which had automatically arranged itself to reflect the students in the classroom. "Evans. Headgirl?"

Lily nodded, still confused by the new, unconventional professor.

"Wonderful, I expect you and," She shot another look at the parchment on her desk, "Mister Potter-"

James's head shot up when he heard his name.

"…to set a good example and forget about the book," Katherine continued. "I'm sure the rest of you will have no trouble doing the same."

Several of the students looked at one another in undisguised delight and shoved their books back into their bags.

"Now, let's get started." She sat behind her desk and pointed her wand at the chalkboard. "Let's go over your basic categories of dueling spells. You have your defensive spells, your offensive spells and your counter-curses, or healing spells." As she spoke, the three categories of spells appeared at the top of the chalkboard. "I expect you are all quite familiar with spells in each category, let's have some examples."

"Miss York?" Katherine randomly called out one of the names from her list.

"Ennervate. It's a healing charm," Giselle spoke up.

"Corecct." She waved her wand at the board, where 'Ennervate' appeared under the heading 'Healing Spells'. "Mister Robinson?"

"Protego, defensive" His contribution appeared on the board as well.

"Mister Lupin?"

"Patronus, defensive and offensive"

Katherine looked up and nodded at him, "Good. People tend to forget that the Patronus is very effective as an offensive spell against dark creatures."

She went on calling out names until there was no space left to add any more spells to their list.

"Today, you will all be practicing your basics- Stupefy _,_ Impentimenta, Expelliarmus, and Protego." With a wave of her wand, the 4 spells in question were circled on the board. "Notice that three of these spells are defensive, only one is offensive. I'll let you in on something I learned in Auror training, if you can't defend yourself, you won't live long."

She stood and motioned for them all to stand as well. With a sweep of her wand, all their desks and belongings were neatly stacked against the walls of the room, leaving space for them to practice the spells.

* * *

"Good wand-work, Evans!" Katherine called from her position at the edge of the classroom. The class was nearing its end and her students were clearly getting tired. "Prince, keep your arm up-don't let anyone catch you unprepared." She snaked between James and Sirius to get closer to Vivian Prince and her partner, Giselle. "Again, ladies." She nodded for them to begin.

The two girls were panting for breath. Even Giselle, who prided herself on her composure looked slightly frazzled and red-cheeked. They both stood at the ready and raised their wand-arms, throwing charms and spells at one another. Katherine circled around them, calling out suggestions and encouraging words. She was impressed by Vivian's powerful shield and made a note to tell her after class. As the mock-duel came to a close, Giselle collapsed against one of the desks with a shocking lack of grace.

Wiping her brow with the back of her hand she asked in an exasperated tone, "Professor, is this really necessary?"

"Oh, come on Elle!" Katherine hopped up to sit on the desk beside her, "this is the most fun I've ever had in a defense class."

"I won't be making you all do this every day," Katherine stood with them as she observed the other students. "However, I do think it's very important for you all to know how to defend yourselves- especially with everything that's going on."

She shot a quick glance at her watch and called out to the rest of the students, "Time! Alright guys, you all did well to-"

A bright blue flash streaked past her ear and hit Vivian in the center of the chest sending her hurtling across the room into the wall with a sickening thud. Katherine shot a look over her shoulder and met Remus's pale face and panicked eyes. Satisfied that he wasn't a threat, she turned and ran to Vivian, joining Giselle next to the unconscious girl's body.

" _Ennervate_ ," She pointed her wand at Vivian's chest and pushed down on her shoulders. As Vivian's eyes popped open, she began speaking calmly, "Stay down, Vivian. Are you in pain?"

Vivian groaned and shielded her eyes from the bright light in the room, "Ugh, no. I don't think so. Can I stand up?"

"Ok, Your head is bleeding but it doesn't look too bad. Potter, come here." She waved him over and directed him to stand at Vivian's other side. Together they helped the injured girl stand. "Potter, I need you to help me take Vivian to see Madame Pomfrey."

"I'm coming too," Giselle announced as she gathered both hers and Vivian's belongings.

"Evans, you're in charge." Katherine pointedly looked at Lily, who nodded and held the door open for them as Vivian stumbled along with their help.

* * *

Hi All!

1\. I split the first chapter in two parts because I want to get some feedback from you guys! Katherine Graves, Giselle and Vivian are my O/Cs, what do you guys think of them?

2\. How dark/angsty should Sirius Black be? He's going to make his entrance in the next chapter!

3\. This is going to be rated M, like pretty heavy M, so just a warning!

4\. Points to anyone who can guess Katherine Graves's relevance to the Hp world!

5\. I'll update again next week but I really would like your feedback!

-MP-


	2. Chapter 2

**I don't own Harry Potter!**

* * *

"Bloody hell," Remus slid down the wall and dropped his head in his palms. "I can't believe I did that to her."

"Remus, I'm sure she'll understand it was an accident," Lily knelt beside him and wrapped her arm around his shoulders. "It's Viv, she's always had a great sense of humor."

Sirius leaned against the desk next to them, legs crossed at the ankles, and twirled his wand between his fingers. "Relax, Moony. I don't think Professor Graves'll do shit." He said her name mockingly. "What the fuck was Dumbledore thinking, hire a teenager to teach us-"

He broke off his tirade shaking his head in disgust.

"Guess someone like him can't help himself," Snape's low voice carried across the room as he muttered to the Slytherin next to him. "It's a natural instinct for people like him to be destructive."

"What the fuck did you just say?" Sirius turned on him, face morphing from irritation to outright rage in moments. He clenched his wand tightly and took a threatening step toward Snape, "Say it again Snivellius." He dared, raising his wand.

"I didn't know you were deaf, Black," Snape faced him with a mocking expression. "I said, it's instin-" He gestured at Remus with a smirk

Lily rushed to Sirius, wrapping her hands around his wand arm, and pulled him a few steps back while hurriedly whispering, "Black, don't do thi-"

As Sirius turned away, Snape continued his taunts, even louder this time. "People like him just have to hurt people."

Sirius whirled around and threw himself at Snape, getting in two brutal punches before he was pulled back by Remus and one of the Ravenclaw boys.

"Pads, he's not worth it," Remus slung his arm around Sirius and forcefully dragged him away from the Slytherin laying on the floor.

"Reducto!"

A bright red beam of light shot through the gap Remus and Sirius's heads, narrowly missing both of them.

As the curse shattered a window, the whole classroom burst into a flurry of movement. Lily screamed at Snape in shock; Snape scrambled to his feet, ready to duel; Sirius flung Remus's arm off and threw a jinx at Snape, which rebounded off his shield and scorched the wall.

Sirius and Snape threw spells back and forth without a second thought for their fellow students' wellbeing- the fellow students who made no move to end the duel, but rather threw up occasional shields to protect themselves as they watched in horror.

The spells slowly shifted from harmless but irritating jinxes to a dangerous variety of painful curses- many of which were deflected around the classroom. Each spell resulted in another shattered window or flurry of sparks as it met a shield charm. Lily and Remus, two of the more responsible students, shouted at Snape and Sirius, respectively- trying to get them to see reason before they hurt someone.

"Remus, they're going to hurt someone," Lily whispered as she threw up a charm to protect a boy who'd had been turned the opposite way when a curse hurtled in his direction.

"Is that it, Snivelly?" Sirius laughed coldly, "That's all your little Death Eater friends taught you?"

He dodged a spell and threw a particularly nasty magenta curse at Snape.

Snape ignored the taunt and instead chose to use one the spells he had created. He swung his arm around his head, slowly collecting all the shards of glass scattered around the floor and sent them flying. His face paled the instant he realized the spell had malfunctioned, causing the glass to shoot uncontrollably at everyone in the room rather than at one specific target- Sirius Black.

A white burst of light intercepted the curse before it could cause any injuries. The bean of light split up to collide with each shard of glass in a violent burst of flames. The force of the spell threw Snape and Sirius to their backs at opposite ends of the room and sent their wands clattering across the floor.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?" Katherine roared from the open doorway, wand shooting sparks in the aftermath of her powerful spell. "Get up, both of you." She glared at the two students on their backs as she let the door slam shut behind her. Walking further in, she looked around with narrowed eyes, taking in the gaping expressions of the rest of the students. Even James, who entered behind her and joined his best friends looked horrified at the extent of the destruction.

"Professor, it wasn't Siri-" Remus began desperately trying to explain before they all got in trouble.

"When I want your opinion, Lupin, I'll be sure to ask for it." She pushed past him to the front of the room crunching through shattered glass and stepping over scorched marks on the floors.

"Black, Snape- get on your feet." She repeated, while surveying the damage, from the broken windows and chunks of stone blasted off the wall, to the overturned desks and loose papers scattered on the floor. "Is anyone hurt?" She asked tonelessly.

When she was satisfied that everyone was alright, she took a deep breath and began speaking again, this time her voice reflected the pent up fury in her body.

"What were you two thinking?" She shook her head in obvious disgust at their actions. "You could have killed somebody- or was that your goal?" She looked at Sirius- her angry blue eyes met his indifferent grey ones. His bored shrug set her off again.

"Do not assume, Black, that just because I'm young or I don't want to use that trash textbook, I'm going to let you use this classroom as a place to vent out your petty, schoolyard rivalries!" She looked from Sirius to Snape. "Next time I see you, or anyone else misusing the freedom of this class, they'll be dropped from the N.E.W.T level section so I don't have to deal with the problem. Do I make myself clear?" Without pausing for them to nod or speak and continued, "Now get the hell out of my classroom, all of you" Katherine turned away from them, disgusted.

* * *

As Vivian and Giselle entered the Great Hall for dinner, the former sporting a bandage around her wrist, they locked eyes with James who waved them over.

Remus, in mid-conversation with Lily, saw them and froze when his eyes landed on the white bandage. As soon as they came within earshot, he began speaking quickly, eager to get the words out, assuming they were approaching to give him a well deserved tongue-lashing.

"Viv, I'm so sorry- I was aiming at Lily's shield but she took it down and I didn't realize-" Remus paused and looked surprised she sat down next to him.

He was about to continue his rushed apology when Vivian waved his words away, "Remus, seriously it's fine!" She smiled at him, "You have a seriously strong stupefy, can you teach me?"

"Well, I mean yeah. But aren't you mad at me?"

"It happens." She shrugged casually "Professor Graves told us about the first time she caught a friendly spell during her Auror training, apparently it's a great way to learn to be vigilant."

"She's pretty cool," Giselle grudgingly agreed, "I mean, for an American and all." She smirked at Vivian as they laughed, recalling their conversation from that morning.

"She's a bitch," Sirius's cold voice cut in. "Who the fuck reacts like that, especially when it's about the Slytherins?"

"What do you mean? What happened with the Slytherins?" Vivian turned her questioning gaze on him.

Remus spoke up, cutting off Sirius to give an accurate version of the story. "After you guys left, Snape started saying I hit you with that stupefy on purpose and stuff,"

"That's completely absurd!" Giselle butted in, with an irritated expression, "I saw your face when she hit the wall."

Remus smiled at her gratefully and took a breath, "Well, he said it anyway. So Sirius called him out, and then Snape tried to throw a curse at him when his back was turned-."

"Who the fuck does that shit?" Sirius looked over at the Slytherin table, disgusted.

"So they both went off at each other, and James and Professor Graves came in right when Snape threw a pretty nasty spell and she went completely ballistic"

"They completely destroyed the classroom," Lily cut in, trying to explain the reasoning for Katherine's reaction.

"I wonder what spell it was that she used to stop him," James mused, "I've never seen that spell before."

"Wow, that sounds pretty dramatic. Kinda pissed that I wasn't there," Giselle frowned at the thought of the missed drama. She leaned forward, rested her chin on her palms and looked at Sirius, "So what's the damage? How long have you got detention?"

"He's doesn't, she didn't give anyone detention," James shoved Sirius's shoulder with a laugh, "Lucky bastard."

Both Vivian and Giselle raised their eyebrows and looked at one another.

"that's pretty…lenient," Vivian

"It's fucked up, she didn't even bother to listen to Remus about why it started." Sirius pushed away from the table and strode out of the Great Hall.

Remus turned to watch him with a concerned expression. "He definitely hates her."

"Potter, you'd hate her too if she went off at you like that," Lily rolled her eyes and turned to the two Ravenclaw girls to explain. "Even though she saw the completely insane spell Severus cast, she yelled at Black more than him."

"Well, this looks like the start of a great year," James sat back with a grin. "I wonder how next class will go."

"I just hope Sirius doesn't do anything rash," Giselle stood, grabbing an apple, "I'm beginning to like this Professor Graves."

* * *

 **Hi All!**

 **1\. I split the first chapter in two parts because I want to get some feedback from you guys! Katherine Graves, Giselle and Vivian are my O/Cs, what do you guys think of them?**

 **2\. How dark/angsty should Sirius Black be?**

 **3\. Points to anyone who can guess Katherine Graves's relevance to the HP world!**

 **5\. I'll update again next week but I really would like your feedback!**

 **-MP-**


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